| Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton |
Innovation Campus is start of a new era
The opening of the first building on the Wollongong Innovation Campus by Premier Morris Iemma on 27 June marked the start of a new era in the Illawarra region.
The Innovation Campus represents an eventual investment in excess of $500 million which gives the region a vital stake in the knowledge-based industries that can underpin our economy in the 21st century – complementing the coal, steel and other manufacturing industries that have provided our economic foundations for so long.
The new campus gives innovative companies the opportunity to work alongside and collaborate with some of the University of Wollongong’s key research institutes.
At the official opening we celebrated the completion of iC Central – the stylish steel and glass building that will be the hub of the new campus. Three more buildings are under construction, and eventually there will be close to 25.
The next building to open will be the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, which will be the new home for two of UOW’s flagship research institutes. When it opens later in the year it will be the most significant materials research institute in Australia.
The Innovation Campus will generate thousands of direct jobs in coming years, so its impact on the Illawarra region will be considerable.
It is a great example of how a university can drive regional development, but equally the Innovation Campus is a great example of how a unified and committed approach can produce an outstanding result.
The Innovation Campus is opening today because the three arms of government – local, state and national – have been able to work cooperatively.
Support from the wider community has been crucial and overwhelming while our construction partner, Baulderstone Hornibrook, has also played an important role in turning our vision into reality.
It all started with a gleam in the eye back in 2000 when the Wollongong Sportsground Trust contemplated options for the land that was then a soccer ground. They saw the university as the ideal candidate to turn this valuable parcel of land into something that could provide long-term benefits to the regional economy.
The NSW Premier at the time, Bob Carr, and his Treasurer Michael Egan embraced the concept, actively encouraged by local MPs David Campbell and Colin Markham. The NSW Government provided $16 million in seed funding and millions more in infrastructure and other support to turn our vision into reality.
As Minister for the Illawarra, David has continued to be a strong and valued supporter in the Iemma Government.
The former Federal Government, in particular Alexander Downer, also provided considerable support, most notably by providing $12 million to build the Global Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention which will open on the Innovation Campus early in 2009. It will house our Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention and Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, and play an important strategic and training role for the security forces of nations in Asia and the Pacific.
The TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute is an important partner in our fourth building, opening next year to house a joint TAFE/UOW digital media centre and our Graduate School of Business.
Former Wollongong City Council general manager Rod Oxley has been a key supporter. From the start, Rod could see the Innovation Campus’ strategic importance to the future economic prospects of the region and worked extremely hard to ensure that it became a reality.
At the University, David Fuller’s Innovation Campus team also worked extremely hard to get us where we are today. They never lost the faith and can be justifiably proud of their efforts.
The region’s media organisations have also provided valuable support, and in the early days played an important role in convincing the community that there would be long-term value in exchanging a sporting facility for a vision for the future.
That vision is now a reality.
The City of Innovation now has its Innovation Campus, and the future is ours.
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